Future of AM3+

[KayVeeEmm]

I'm about to buy an AM3+ motherboard so I can run 2 256GB Crucial M4 SSDs in RAID 0. I plan to ditch desktops completely, but my Dell XPS i7 quad core has RAID support stupidly disabled by the manufacturer.

I've heard that AMD no longer plans to compete with Intel directly, but I feel that is already what's happening since the release of Phenom IIs. They don't have a direct competitor to the 980X and 3960X in performance.

Will the AM3+ socket serve well in the next, say, at least 2 years? Will AMD still continue to churn bang for buck CPUs/APUs on the desktop?

 

[pelov]

I would skip the am3+ platform if I were you. Currently BD isn't a good price-to-performance option and uses way too much power. the AM3+ relies on just how much better vishera (the new FX am3+ chip being released in Q3/Q4 2012) is going to be, but I'm not that hopeful.

Are you upgrading just the mobo and not buying a CPU? or both? And why slap them in RAID 0? Aren't they fast enough for you as it is? =P

 

[nenforcer]

The AM3+ platform will be viable for at least 1 more year, like pelov said.

Just don't buy the current AMD FX CPU's and stick with the Phenom ][ X2, X4 and X6's, which are currently being phased out.

However, I'm not sure its worth switching from your XPS i7 platform just for RAID 0 support. It would really be a downgrade or a sidegrade, at best.

If you are that serious about it you could buy a dedicated 3Ware SATA PCI-E RAID Controller and just plug that into your existing Dell XPS.

 

[KayVeeEmm]

I don't plan to buy a BD CPU, and just tuck in the quad core Phenom II. I might buy the 960T that has a chance to unlock to x6 cores. Piledriver is compatible with AM3+ from what I know.

Nope, 15-20 seconds of boot time isn't fast enough for me... . Still, I will have many practical uses for RAID 0 SSDs. There's always the i5 2500k / i7 2600k route but I just really want to put the SSDs in SATA III RAID 0. Therefore AM3+ is the fastest and somewhat future-proof option. I just want to know what you guys think of Piledriver. The FX-6100 was also on sale for $99 on black friday at Fry's, so I'm secretly hoping the eight cores will see a similar discount soon.

If you are that serious about it you could buy a dedicated 3Ware SATA PCI-E RAID Controller and just plug that into your existing Dell XPS.

I forgot to mention that the Dell XPS is a laptop (i7-2xxxQM)

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The current AM3+ CPUs are terrible, but maybe, just maybe they will be good when AMD does a refresh. Don't hold your breath on that though.

 

[podspi]

I want to believe AM3+ will be around for quite a while, but with AMD's roadmaps changing as chaotically as they are, who knows.

What is it you are trying to do, exactly? Those two SSDs couldn't have been cheap, why put them into a budget machine?

 

[KayVeeEmm]

I want to believe AM3+ will be around for quite a while, but with AMD's roadmaps changing as chaotically as they are, who knows.

What is it you are trying to do, exactly? Those two SSDs couldn't have been cheap, why put them into a budget machine?

I bought the SSDs without knowing about the disabled RAID in current gen Dell XPS laptops. I have to turn to my desktop to take advantage of the speed. Since Intel is changing their socket of choice to X79 right now, and then update to Ivy Bridge again later next year, I'll wait until next year to switch over Ivy Bridge.

With just an AM3+ motherboard, I will gain both SATA III and give AMD a chance if they're managed to fix BD's problems and/or vastly improve on Piledriver.

 

[poohbear]

OP u never said what u're planning to do w/ the system? is it just for general computer usage? if so u'd need nothing else.

Gaming? well then the graphics card is the most important thing @ 1080 resolution except for some RTS games where the CPU is a factor, in which case u'd want a sandy bridge.

 

[LoneNinja]

I don't see much future in AM3+ in terms of performance. Piledriver is only expected to be 10-15% faster than Bulldozer, that would still put it below Sandy Bridge. To make matters worse they don't specify if that is performance per watt, absolute performance of the chip, or an IPC increase of 10-15%. We should get a decent idea of Piledriver once Trinity is released in Q1 2012 but until than I wouldn't bank on AM3+ being competitive against 1155.

 

[zlejedi]

A simple question - do you realize you will fully saturate Intel/AMD integrated raid controllers (iirc max for them is 700 MB/s)

 

[pelov]

I highly doubt Piledriver will be able to catch Sandy Bridge, let alone Ivy. I really do think that the AM3+ platform is dead already. After Piledriver (Vishera) there will be no more chips for that socket.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5136/intel-to-add-trim-support-for-raid-0

Putting SATA III SSDs in RAID 0 is rather pointless. Is it worth paying for a poor platform? No. If you're looking for an upgrade you could just put the money towards an Ivy Bridge machine; it really would be the smarter choice and you'll see more out of it.

 

[KayVeeEmm]

I currently use one SSD for the Dell XPS i7 laptop internally, and bought a drive caddy for either the 2nd SSD or a huge HDD for storage. The machine is used for editing and rendering video, so the CPU is constantly stressed out to 100%. The SSD helps fast transfers to other computers at work with a USB 3 enclosure.

The other SSD is just sitting inside the desktop, but it will see a major overhaul when I find time to reinstall, backup, and move both SSDs over for RAID 0 (and there are two Spinpoint F4 HDDs inside that's not in a RAID setting, which was setup like so previously).